Here we are with the second week of D1A rankings and we have one game that has made the biggest change this time.
Obviously, it's Arizona's 12-10 loss to Saint Mary's. As a result of this very close result, Saint Mary's drifts down from #3 to #5, and Arizona moves up from #12 to #9.
Other results had a small influence on these moves. Cal won well over a good Cal Poly team and it seemed right to move them past the Gaels, too. So Saint Mary's moves down two spots, not just one.
Central Washington losing to an admittedly strong UBC team while Arizona got the result they got prompted us to move Arizona up perhaps one more spot than we would have if CWU had been idle.
Now, a caution—early-season close results can easily be thrown out. It's good to remember that. The two-point loss for Saint Mary's vs Life University at the CRAA Fall Classic, or the two-point win for Saint Mary's over Arizona could both be negated with other results coming around. What if Saint Mary's wins big over BYU and Navy? What if Arizona loses big to UCLA and Saint Mary's wins comfortably over UCLA later on?
Conversely, what if Arizona's results against common opponents with Saint Mary's are better? Maybe the fact that Arizona lost to Saint Mary's isn't something we hold onto because the result was only by two points. If Life, which beat Saint Mary's 24-22 in December, hits a bad patch and Saint Mary's hits a strong patch, then maybe that Life-Saint Mary's result gets thrown out.
So, right now, we made moves based on one or two results. Many more games are to come.
Thanks, as always, to Next Phase Rugby for their support of these rankings. Now is the time for high school rugby players to use these rankings and the Next Phase Rugby app to track their favorite college teams and find the right college for them.
